Jason Garfield and Benji Hill will be teaming up for the teams competition at the Baltimore convention next summer. Garfield said the two will work for about a week in early January to get preliminary work done, then will get together again for all of May and June to prepare their act. Garfield is also preparing for the individual competition in Baltimore, where he hopes to add some gymnastics to his highly­technical routines. "I want to be very technical, but also have the performance aspect to it, " he said. He also hopes to be doing seven clubs by the convention. "No one thinks I can do it... but I think I can, " he said.

 

Stuart Lippe reports that sales of his video, Bobby May. are going very well. There is also a possibility that PBS may air the video at some point. As for his performing career, Lippe, who was sidelined for two months with hepatitis, worked with several circuses in New England during the summer, including one circus camp. "We took about 10-15 kids with us and taught them until they eventually worked into the acts," he said.

 

Comedy juggler Edward Jackman has been focusing his attention on acting as of late. He played a character named Bunky in a recent episode of "T & T" on the Fox network that may land him a spinoff series. According to his wife and agent, Karen Taussig, Jackman's character "is Jimmy Olsen to Vanity's Lois Lane," because the spinoff would star Vanity (ex­girlfriend of rock star Prince) as a journalist / heroine.

 

But, despite the many acting jobs he's been doing, Jackmann is still a hard­working juggler. In recent weeks, he has appeared on "Evening at the Improv", "Comic Strip Live", and "Improv Tonight." He will also be appearing on the "Super Dave" show in February.

 

Alexis Lee recently returned from a three-month stint in Australia at the World's Fair. While she was there she met up with many other juggling groups, including the Flying Karamazov Brothers, Disorderly Conduct and Variety in Motion. While she did get a chance to busk in Sydney, she commented that "it's difficult to work there because you need to be sponsored." During her stay down under, Lee also had the opportunity to visit New Zealand. Although she did not work while she was there, she greatly enjoyed the hiking and the overall nature of the country. "Also, it's probably the safest place for a solo single female to travel," she said. Her globe-trotting continued as she flew off to Bombay, India for Christmas and New Year's shows at a five-star hotel there.

 

Tim Nolan has been bouncing seven balls and doing a lot of work associated with basketball camps over the last few months. In his half-time shows, he has been incorporating bounce juggling with basketball trick shots. He has joined a group called the Virginia Comedy and Dance Troupe, and they have been doing many college shows in Virginia and on the east coast.

 

"It was nice from my perspective just to see those people again," commented Cindy Friedburg on the European Juggling Convention in Bradford, England.   Friedburg, who spent her junior year of college in London, had the opportunity to visit with some of the jugglers she met during that time. She was in England before the convention working with the Oddball Juggling Company on two juggling videotapes, one that teaches juggling and one with her performing her "juggling poetry." In the near future, Friedburg will be performing her show, "Poetry in Motion" at Barnard College in New York City, as part of the school's Program in the Arts.

 

Jack Swersie is getting rather well known for juggling severed limbs. His act of juggling a severed head, severed arm and severed foot has gotten rave reviews during his recent dates in the Poconos.

 

Anthony Gatto recovered quickly after suffering a fractured finger and is now back in action. "The doctor said Anthony had the most strength and most mobility after fracturing a finger of anyone he'd ever seen," said his father and trainer, Nick. Before he fractured his finger, Anthony was having success with 11 rings, and performed 10 on the closing day of his tour of Japan. When he returned, he picked up torches for the first time in his career. Within two days, he became possibly the first person to ever juggle seven of them! Nick says that Anthony will work torches into the act soon.

 

Bounce and Ooo La La, having just finished a 7 1/2 - month tour of state fairs, colleges and family events, are finding time to work on building their house in Key West, Florida. In February they will perform in the American Virgin Islands and at the New York, Georgia, and Pennsylvania state fair conventions. "We had a really good year, and hopefully we'll have another one," Bounce said. The two are in the process

of putting together another show, which will be aimed at children and family entertainment. The show will contain some juggling but will be mostly life-size puppets and characters.

 

Organizers of the Bayside Buskerfest in Miami invite performers to apply to work the event Feb. 24-26. The festival will include continuous street shows, workshops, and evening staged perfor­mances. Contact Ed Allen, Fantasy Theatre Factory, Miami, FL.

 

Billy Gillen of Brooklyn, N.Y., reports that he joggled five balls through the entire New York Marathon in early November. He got a good start, finishing the first half of the 26 mile distance in about two hours. Then he started hitting the runner's "wall" and his dream run turned into a nightmare. Almost literally. Darkness fell with two miles to go in Central Park and it took Gillen about two hours to maneuver his five Squeez-Its that relatively short distance. His overall time for this first-ever reported feat was about seven hours.

 

And talk about a weird joggling experience... Andrew Himes of Seattle, Wash., accidentally tossed one of his bean­bags into the window of a passing car during a 10-kilometer race this summer. As the car sped off, Himes spotted a large mushroom growing beside the road. He picked it and finished the last half of the race with two beanbags and a mushroom!

 

The Big Apple Circus, performing at Lincoln Center in New York City until January 3, includes a talented group of jugglers from Nanjing, China. Their performance starts with one of the men doing five and six tennis rackets, eventually working up to a brief run of seven! The man who follows him works a well-polished ring solo, starting with six and working up to nine. In the finale, the three-man group passes 18 rings and ends with one of the men catching all 18. "It's a must-see for anyone interested in juggling, " said Barrett Felker.